<!–
<!–
<!– <!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
Households and businesses close to the six nuclear power reactors the opposition hopes to build could have their energy bills subsidized.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, teasing the Coalition’s yet-to-be-revealed energy policy at the Australian Financial Review Business Summit in Sydney on Tuesday, said the plan was likely to include six nuclear power plants.
Tasmania has been ruled out as a potential host state.
Sir. Dutton said the coalition would seek a social license by encouraging nearby communities with subdued energy, a model he said was used in the United States.
“It provides incentive for industry to create jobs,” he told the audience.
Peter Dutton (pictured) said the Coalition’s yet-to-be-revealed energy policy is likely to include six nuclear power stations
The opposition is expected to release its energy policy ahead of the federal budget in May, where the plan is likely to include overturning the moratorium on nuclear technology and possible sites for reactors at old coal stations to take advantage of existing transmission infrastructure.
Sir. Dutton said nuclear must be seen as a companion to renewables.
“Nuclear power is the only proven technology that delivers zero emissions and empowers renewable energy.”
The Albanian government has rejected nuclear power as an unsuitable technology for Australia, which has a high cost and would take too long to roll out.
Energy experts also say it is difficult to estimate the cost of the transition to nuclear, as the technology is not currently commercially available.
Sir. Dutton addressed a number of what he described as ‘straw man arguments’ against nuclear power, including cost.
He used other regions with nuclear power in the energy mix – South Korea and the Ontario region of Canada – to argue the system-wide costs of the energy source and its impact on electricity bills.
Reactors also produce a “small amount of waste” and Mr Dutton said the Government had already signed up to deal with nuclear waste via the AUKUS agreement.
Liberal government plan likely to propose old coal-fired power stations to house nuclear reactors (picture image)
Speaking at the business conference on Monday night, Business Council of Australia president Geoff Culbert said climate policy had become “so binary” it was making it difficult to achieve.
Sir. Culbert said the nation still lacked a detailed, long-term plan to reach net zero.
“And business – which has to do a lot of the heavy lifting – has no long-term certainty of what they can invest against in an environment where targets can change every time there’s a change of government,” he said.
He called for an independent expert body to draw up a net zero plan to insulate it from political gamesmanship.
He did not mention nuclear power, but said gas would be needed in the transition period until battery technology comes to scale or other substitutes become available.